Being Jim Ch. 07: Barbra's Wish

It would take a while for them to be ready to cook on however so Barb and I decided to walk the "beach" and just enjoy the breeze and the sunshine.

The breeze died down till it was almost still really, that's when I was first introduced to Northern Michigan's state bird... The heinous BLACK FLY. Or rather black FLIES, there was never just one. Oh no... that would be like a vacation I would discover. No, these pesky little blood suckers were viscous on their own, but when they swarmed in a cloud they were... Well... they were beyond annoying. Mostly the breeze kept them off of us but as I said the breeze died down and their presence was suddenly a thing to be dealt with. UGH!

Back at our picnic spot the coals were ready to cook on and I went off into the edge of the woods nearby to find a couple of suitable sticks to use to roast our hot dogs on. I was slapping and swatting at black flies the whole time and getting more and more annoyed by the minute. I could hear Barbra swatting and slapping and cursing as well. I found a couple of worthy sticks by breaking off and cutting and sharpening two sprigs, not big enough to be called saplings really. As I was sharpening them to a point on one end I had a thought that I remembered from years ago. Being an old Boy Scout I knew that smoke kept most flying insects away. A smudge pot with a smoldering twig or some leaves in or at the edge of your tent could and would keep mosquitoes from feasting on you as you slept. I wondered if that might apply to these pesky little biting blood suckers too.

I went back to the edge of the woods and gathered some foliage, mostly green twigs and lots of leaves. I put a handful of leaves on the coals as we roasted our hot dogs. The smoke did seem to do the trick but then the breeze was just enough to keep blowing the smoke around, first one direction then another. It must have looked like Barb and I were dancing around the fire or something from a distance. We managed to find the fun in it though and we smiled and had our little feast even while swatting and slapping at the black flies.

After we ate we were sitting on our towels contemplating getting wet. Barb and I had changed into our suits but she was in no hurry to get wet so she encouraged me to test the water so to speak. I should have known something was up by the mischievous grin on her face as she said it then as she watched me walk over to the waterline.

Walk, yes, but gingerly so to be sure, no sand remember? Those pebbles might be smooth but they are still rocks and stones and they aren't the most comfortable feeling under bare feet. My toes of course were the first to encounter the water of Lake Michigan as it lapped upon those very pebbles I was hesitantly trodding across. Where it was lapping at the sun warmed stones it had warmed of course so there was no instant shock or anything even if it was a bit cool to my bare feet. So onward I trod into the water deeper and deeper with each hesitant step.

About six foot from the edge of the water it was barely knee deep, at least at this little stretch of shoreline anyway. The temperature of the water however was decidedly DEEPER as in colder... as in DEEP FREEZE COLD! It took a few moments for my brain to register that all those pins and needles stabbing the skin of my feet and shins up to my knees was actually cold water! So cold that it almost burned! That is, until my skin went numb anyway.

The look on my face as I discovered all this must have been priceless as Barb had her hand covering her mouth as she shook and clutched her side with her other arm with silent laughter. She couldn't resist asking with a shout.

"Still want to go skinny dipping?" She wiped a tear from her eye and still shook with the giggles. I on the other hand rose to the occasion, well verbally anyway and I challenged her.

"I will if you will." I shouted back and wave with a "come on" motion of my arm.

To my surprise Barb stood up and stepped delicately over to the water and she too waded out to her knees to join me... her eyes got big but trying to keep a straight face until she was standing by my side and then turned to face me.

"There's no way... in hell... I'm getting naked in this stuff." Barb said with her teeth beginning to chatter.

My own teeth would have been chattering too if I didn't have my jaw clenched tightly closed as I tried to man it out. Well it wasn't that hard really as I said my legs had gone numb but it was still freakin cold. Wow! I had no idea that even in September the water would be this cold. But there we were. Even with her lips trembling as her teeth chattered Barb wrapped her arms about my waist and tilted her head back and up to face me as I leaned in to kiss her lightly on the lips.

"You knew full well that the water was this cold but you didn't tell me... you little trickster." I said with a wry grin.

"Yep, some things you just have to experience to appreciate." She said with a half smile and I felt her shiver in my arms.

I couldn't help but to flash back to last night and Barbra's telling me about her and Penny and even Gail sharing their boyfriends' kisses and sometimes more. I wondered if they appreciated those things... because they had experienced them. I couldn't fault the logic of the statement however so I just set that mental speculation aside for another time.

"Come on, let's clean up our mess and get out of here. It's lovely to look at but I'm pretty much done with these black flies... and I can't feel my toes." I said and Barbra giggled a bit.

"Good thing nothing else got wet then huh?" She teased again as she made for the waterline to get out of this cold cold water. I followed her a bit woodenly as well, I couldn't feel my toes.

It wasn't long before I had doused the fire and scattered the now cold embers and remaining briquettes as well as our stones used for the fire ring. We gathered our trash and packed it out with us along with the leftover food. Instead of changing our clothes we simply pulled them on over our suites, well, all but the underwear anyway. I asked Barb where to head next and she just pointed her finger up the road and shrugged her shoulders.

"Let's just explore a bit." She suggested.

"Fine by me." I replied and off we went.

Barbra and I drove up the Southern shoreline of the UP headed north by west along the waters of Lake Michigan. We stopped at all the touristy spots and simply enjoyed ourselves often walking hand in hand or arm in arm like the lovers we actually were. The smiles we got from perfect strangers were kind and friendly and I know I was not the only one who noticed them. Barb didn't say anything but I know she enjoyed it all.

In the late afternoon, with the shadows getting long Barb and I decided that it was time to head back to our hotel and maybe decide what we wanted to do or where we wanted to go for dinner as we drove. I asked Barb if there was anything that she had wanted or craved to have while she was here visiting and reminiscing. We ticked off a few things like the smoked whitefish, the pasties, fudge of course. The croissants that we had had for breakfast two, no three days now were not originally on Barb's list but they would be now and forever more she said. I smiled knowing that now it was a memory that I too would share with her. I would never see another croissant and not think of our time here in the U.P. together.

We passed a lot of now fairly familiar local eateries as well as national fast food chains as we got closer to St. Ignace but just before we got back to our hotel Barb told me to get on the interstate going south. We were going to go across that bridge to Mackinaw City. There was a restaurant there that her parents and even grandparents would stop at from time to time when she and her sister were coming or going or staying up here for the summers. Barb wondered if it was still open.

As it turned out it was still open, the big sign by the road proclaimed that Audie's was a family restaurant. I know I was hungry but when we got out of the car we were enticed and entranced by the wonderful aromas coming from the place. It was probably from the exhaust fans from the kitchen but the smells were mouthwatering to say the least.

It wasn't a long wait to get seated but it took a while for Barb and I to make our choices from the menus the hostess had given us to look through. It didn't help that most everything had such beautiful pictures of the items and dishes. Honestly, Barbra and I both would have sampled everything on the menu had we the time and disposition but in the end we decided on something different between the both of us and agreed to share and sample as we wanted from each other's plate.

There was that idea again... sharing... I just shook my head mentally and let it go. Barbra ordered a beer to have with our appetizer of onion rings, deep fried smelts and fried clams. I really wanted something like an Ale-8-one, ice cold but I knew that that local soft drink from home rarely makes it over the state lines into Tennessee, Ohio and Virginia or West Virginia. There was no way they would have it this far north so I ordered a ginger ale and just tried to enjoy it.

We had ordered half orders of the appetizers but we were still impressed at the amount of the food that was brought to us. It's a good thing we only ordered half orders, especially when our entree's showed up. Barb's New Orleans Chicken looked amazing but then so did my Lamb chops. I had opted to substitute the sweet potatoes that were on the menu for some garlic mashed potatoes with a side of wild rice and of course some brown gravy. I did order some mixed greens on the side. Barb just wrinkled her little nose at that but I just shrugged, hey! I like vegetables, what can I say... even if greens aren't probably considered vegetable per se.

The food was amazing, the company, as always, was wonderful. Barbra while enjoying her meal was also having a great time teasing me and being even more suggestive that she usually is around me. I mean just how sexy can a girl make taking a fork full of chicken and putting it in her mouth? Those big brown eyes were burning holes through me, not so much from anger but rather from lust and anticipation... silent promise for intimate affections of the highest order. I was getting highly distracted even though I was trying to keep my wits about me and be cool. Barb got a chuckle when at one point while watching her antics I put my fork in my mouth with nothing on it.

Eventually we did finish eating, and we did not request a doggie bag for any leftovers. I did leave a nice tip when we paid our bill however as the food and the service were outstanding! The sun had set by the time we had finished our meal and left the restaurant. Barb suggested we check out the old Mackinaw Point Lighthouse since it was just a couple of blocks away from the restaurant. So we got in the car and drove the two blocks and parked.

The lighthouse has long been retired but it's a landmark and there is a small park around it where you can view the southern end of the Mackinac Bridge. We strolled hand in hand over to the lighthouse and around it then through the park to the overlook near the shore. As we were to the eastern side of the bridge Lake Huron was to our right and Lake Michigan was to our left... well... to the left of the straights anyway. Big Mac was all lit up from the traffic going across it in both directions. Barb and I leaned against the hand rail and just gazed at it.

"Can you believe we actually walked across that thing?" Barb said in a small voice filled with awe... and perhaps something else.

I gazed at her face as she looked towards the bridge. She was looking at the bridge for sure but I suspected she was seeing many other things than what was before our eyes at that moment, perhaps a lifetime of other things. That beautiful face was still and serene with the faintest of smiles turning up the corners of her beautiful lips.

If I closed my eyes I'm sure I would have heard her heartbeat, slow and steady and strong. I wondered how many times she crossed these straights on the ferry and then later on this very bridge, as a very little girl to a teenager, to a young woman and now a mature woman looking back through the years. It may have been a trick of the light but I thought I saw a bit of a tear building in the corners of her soft brown eyes as she looked out... or back through time. Barb smiled then and edged a little closer to me and leaned her head on my left shoulder.

I wrapped my left arm around her waist and held her softly and continued to remain silent. This was not a time to talk I thought. Her question a few moments ago was rhetorical and needed no response from me. We watched as a big vessel, perhaps an ore carrier steam past us navigating the straights and passing under the bridge on its way from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron.

A short while later we decided that we were both ready to go back to our hotel and call it a day. We walked back through the lighthouse park to our rental car and then navigated our way back to the bridge and across we went.

It felt wonderful to kick off our shoes when we got back to our room. Barb and I both sighed and then looking at each other we both said "Bathing suits!" and laughed. We still had our suits on under our street clothes from where we had went wading at the "beach" earlier in the day. They didn't actually get wet so they had been comfortable enough to just keep wearing throughout the day but now they had to come off. It was time to dress for bed anyway.

Barb grabbed a bag from her previous shopping and pulled out a couple of scented candles that she had purchased. Adored the smell of lilac and when she found the candles at one of the shops she had to have them. She lit one and set it on the little table that we had shared our croissants. The second candle she brought to one of the night stands beside the bed and lit it as well. She turned off the lamp on that side leaving only the lamp on my side of the bed to light the room. Barb then grabbed another shopping bag and excused herself to the bathroom to change and get ready for bed.

I didn't think anything about it as I peeled off my own clothes including the now long worn bathing suit. I sat on the edge of the bed and grinned thinking back to earlier in the day... and to think I had entertained thoughts of skinny dipping in the lake! I shivered at the thought of that ice cold water. I pulled on a clean tee shirt and had just pulled up my sweat pants and sat back on the bed with the TV remote when Barbra opened the door to the bathroom... it took me a moment or two to finally look over because she didn't just come right out. The sight made my jaw drop and my eyes nearly pop out of my head!

Barb was leaning against the door jamb with her left shoulder. Her right hip was cocked to her right in a provocative pose. Provocative in that she was standing there with her hair down, her left foot planted firmly on the floor supporting her weight as her right leg slowly ran her foot up the side of her left leg. Did I mention that both were clad in dark nylons or hell from a distance of half the room they very well could be silk I supposed, but stockings of the oh most sexiest imagining. They clad her legs from the toes to just over mid thigh where they were clipped to a set of lacy garter straps that were in turn connected to a lacy garter belt that hugged her waist. There was a very small and delicate looking black panty also at her waist and diving closely along the seams of her legs to cover her private treasure, at least from full view.

My eyes slowly climbed higher still taking in the fact that Barb had omitted a bra and that left her beautiful breasts in full display as they sat proudly on her chest in all their glory. Upwards my eyes traveled following the sweep of her right arm as it was bent at the elbow and her hand was trailing her fingers through a swath of her long dark red hair as she were slowly flipping it over her right shoulder. Her head was leaning on her left arm that was running straight up along the door jamb from her shoulder... those gorgeous finely manicured delicate fingers and nails reflecting the light of the lone lamp and the two candles that flickered. I stared in awe and admiration... stunned into silence... stunned into... well... not breathing.

"Lover, you have to breath." Barb purred from the doorway, a smile of satisfaction playing across her lips and her eyes dancing with glee at my reaction to her display.

I think I did breathe again, perhaps after I gasped a few times. I know my heart literally skipped a beat or two as I drank in the sight of this sexy goddess before me.

"Well what do you think?" Barb asked as she slowly peeled herself away from the doorway and slowly strolled across the room, first towards me and the bed then veering over towards the small table with the candle flickering on it. She trailed her left hand slowly across the table top with only her nails making contact with the surface. Barb's right hand was resting easily on her right hip accentuating the slow rhythmic roll of her hips as she then slowly strolled towards me on my side of the bed. All the while my eyes tracked her and my head turned to follow her as she moved about the room. I was in awe, dumbstruck, my mouth hanging agape.

Barbra edged closer to me I could hear the nylons or silk stockings whisper with each step on the cheap carpet of the hotel room and as her thighs rubbed slightly against one another. Once beside the bed she reached out with her left hand and switched off the lamp leaving only the two candles to emit their flickering light to the room. This made this marvelous display seem even more dreamlike as the shadows played and danced with the light of the flickering candles. I as much felt as saw Barb then lift her left hand up and place her fingers delicately beneath my chin and gently lift it up to close my mouth. She then raised her right hand up and stroked my left cheek with the backs of her fingers before leaning in and meeting my lips with hers in a soft gentle oh so sensual kiss. Barb's big brown eyes never lost their hold on my own.

"Oh Wow!" I finally exclaimed as she pulled back for a moment to let us catch our breath.

"You like?" She asked... such a silly question. Barb knew full well I was completely blown away.

"Oh baby, you know I do! Wow!" I repeated as I reached up and finally put my hands on her upper arms to be able to pull her closer for another kiss.

This kiss was not so timid and gentle as the last even if it was just as sensual. This kiss began to express the appreciation that my words so inadequately conveyed moments ago. I had to lean back as Barb pushed me forward, or rather backwards from my perspective as she climbed onto the bed with her stocking clad knees. Her knees were to either side of me as she straddled my waist to sit in my lap. My back was against the headboard with a few pillows behind me where I had been sitting flipping through the now long forgotten television that was off and silent.

"I saw these at the mall the other day and I thought I might dress a little sexy for you to thank you for being so sweet and coming with me up here to walk the bridge and reminisce. You've been more than wonderful Jim I just want you to know how much appreciate it... and you." Barb said as she ran the nails and fingers of her right hand idly across the front of my tee shirt and chest.

"Barb, honey, you never have to dress up to impress me, you know I love you just the way you are." I said but then I noticed her face fell just a bit from perhaps disappointment and I added. "But you certainly know how to make a man sit up and take notice... again... WOW!" I said with a sincere smile as I ran my hands down her sides across that garter belt and then down her thighs across the silky coverings of her legs.